thecaitlynlee: Cat Reviews: EXO: Universe - Winter Special Album 2017

Aloha Friends!!! The day you've all been waiting for it FINALLY here! Today I'm going to be reviewing EXO's Winter Special album, Universe!!!

STOP!! CICK HERE TO LISTEN TO UNIVERSE -WINTER SPECIAL ALBUM 2017 BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING!

If you're a return reader, you already know how much I love EXO's winter albums, so you can only imagine how excited I was to finally hear their newest winter album, Universe. Universe has a completely different vibe than the past winter albums. This album has mostly rock ballads that make you long for a warm blanket, a hot chocolate, and an even hotter EXO member to cuddle with. This album seems more emotional than the ones before it, but it's perfectly fitting for the winter season.

An Overview and Album Artwork:

Universe includes 8 new songs, three of which are just different versions of the title track, Universe. Like I mentioned above, the overall vibe of this album is pretty bleak(???) for lack of a better word. It doesn't have any songs that have that fun, cutesy vibe, like "Falling For You" from For Life, or "불공평해 Unfair" from Sing For You. I think the new vibe shows a more mature side of EXO and I'm honestly really feeling it. This album had a barista concept which is cool I guess? I don't really get how it goes with the songs, but I mean I'm still and EXO-L aka I love whatever EXO does. They want to be baristas for this album? I'll have an iced latte. (Sorry I wanted to make a joke I just didn't have anything to work with...) Their concept photos for this album were great. Chanyeol looked great, no complaints. I'll include the photos at the end of this post! As for the album artwork, the digital version of the album features a piping hot cup of idk what in what seems like space, so that's cool. It fits the vibe of the album so I'm not mad at it. Interestingly enough, there isn't a Chinese version of all the songs on this album, but just a Chinese version of the title track, Universe. I don't mind though, because I don't usually listen to the Chinese versions (sorry to my own heritage lol). I honestly don't know what comes in the physical version, but mine is on the way (I think...) and once it comes, I'll be sharing it with you, as always!

The Songs:
1. Universe

How many times have I said that Universe is the title track in this post? Well... It is and it's pretty damn good. It has a really great rock ballad melody. It's a really great song to fall asleep to, not that it's boring but it's super soothing and relaxing. Not to spoil it for anyone, but spoiler alert, Sehun actually sings and he sounds so good!!! The music video is honestly kinda strange. It's coffee/barista themed and I honestly just don't get it. It's not strange in a bad way at all though, like I actually really like it, I just don't frickin get it lol.

2. Universe - Chinese Version
Since this is the only Chinese version of any of the songs on this album, I'm forced to listen to it when I put the album on shuffle but I'm honestly not mad at it. For me, the Chinese versions of the songs kinda ruin them for me, but the Chinese version of Universe is really good and preserves the really great rock ballad feel.

3. 지나갈 테니 Been Through
I read a lot of comments about this song before I listened to it and everyone was like "omg so good!!! I love it so much!!! Everyone's going to love it!!!!" so imagine my expectations when I finally heard it... Well, they were met and I fricking love this song. I'm really impressed with the direction that EXO went with this album. It's SO different, and this song really puts that on display. I honestly would've loved this song as the title track too.

4. Stay
Like 지나갈 테니 Been Through, I read a lot of really good feedback about Stay before I listened to it so I had high expectations and once again, EXO came through. It's another example of a song that really displays how different this album is than any of their other albums. When I hear this song, I imagine a really dramatic K-drama scene where a couple is standing on a path lined by cherry blossom trees, one of them just told the other that they needed to break up and walks away, the other stands there alone, sad. If you can't picture it, lay down, close your eyes are really listen to the song lol.

5. Fall
Uhm so I love this song sooooo much guys. For some reason, it reminds me of Justin Timberlake and I really love JT so... Baekhyun oppa's "oh" and "hey" in the later chorus KILL ME. I've honestly never been a huge fan of Baekhyun's voice, like he's a great singer, but he really impressed me in this song for some reason. His voice really stood out. Not to forget to mention that I really really REALLY love Chanyeol's rap in this song like it's so smooth and makes me melt (even though everything he does makes me melt).

6. Good Night
I'm going to start by saying that this is my absolute favorite song on this entire album. It reminds me of my favorite B2ST (RIP) song, also titled Good Night, and if any of the EXO members ever sang this to me, you'd best bet I'd pass out aka good frickin night for me. But this song just has that little more upbeat, but still a little ballad-y vibe that I love so much. And Chanyeol's chorus and his verse about how the a beautiful night without you finds him again UGJHHHHHHHHHH. Omg and Umin oppa's "Baby good night" I'm already dead good night.

7. Lights Out
A rock ballad? THIS IS IT. Lights Out is THE rock ballad of this album. It's literally just vocals and piano which is amazing because it really showcases how great of vocalists EXO is. Like with Fall, Baekhyun's voice really stood out to me, like be made this song his bitch and the song is totally fine with it. Baekhyun's little "whoa whoa" in the background around 2:12 remind me of Frank Ocean, and idk if you guys know already but I love Frank Ocean so much so I have a deep appreciation for this "whoa whoas".

8. Universe - CD Version
Don't bash me but I honestly cannot tell the difference between this version of Universe and the non-CD version of Universe. They're the same length and everything like WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE???? If you know please tweet me @thecaitlynlee because ya girl does not have a clue. Either way, it's still a great song, no matter what version you're listening to so I have no complaints.

Picking Favorites:
I didn't make my ranking so obvious in my reviews this time (right?). Anyways, you guys know already that Good Night is my favorite, but here is my ranking of all the songs!
1. Good Night
2. Fall
3. 지나갈 테니 Been Through
4. Universe (Both CD and non-CD versions)
5. Stay
6. Lights Out
7. Universe - Chinese Version

Final Thoughts:
I think you guys can already tell that I love this album. I really like the different direction that EXO went in for this album and none of the songs disappointed. EXO's winter albums are always my favorite, like find me listening to them any time of the year honestly. I'm really glad I can add this to my EXO winter albums playlist and jam out all year long!!!

As always, thanks so much for reading!! What was your favorite song from Universe?? Let me know!!!

As promised, here are the concept photos for this album!! (Don't forget that you can click the photos to view them larger!)